I hope we all are aware of the great revolver check-out available in the revolver section of the forum. I bought a used bow earlier this year totally blind, it was laminate wood and looked AWESOME, and it was a total dud. Used cross-bows are pretty cheap. Half or less of retail it seems.
Several people have told me to stay away from recurves as they lose power after a couple years, but otherwise I have no idea. Is there any way to tell if it has been dry-fired and such? A wood/laminant bow will have cracks, but what about a pure ploymer cross-bow?